


Blind Dates and Best Friends

by rai_m



Series: When Rafael Met Sonny [2]
Category: Law & Order: SVU
Genre: Friendship, M/M, Pre-Slash, fluff and nonsense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 06:55:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13565211
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rai_m/pseuds/rai_m
Summary: "I need you to come with me.”“You want me to go on your date with you?”“No, just sit in the restaurant somewhere. If it’s going really badly, I’ll give you some sort of signal and you can, I don’t know, trip the fire alarm or something.”





	Blind Dates and Best Friends

**Author's Note:**

> Another one for the Valentine's Day prompts, originally for the prompt Friends Date, but Blind Date is getting thrown in the mix too.
> 
> Takes place somewhere in the middle of that other nonsense I wrote, When Rafael Met Sonny.

Stuck in a meeting that had dragged on longer than planned, Rafael’s eyes kept flicking to his phone screen. Sonny had texted him about 30 minutes earlier, simply saying ‘I need your help’, and he’d heard nothing since. He was a little anxious, but he hoped that if it was a real emergency that first of all, he wouldn’t be the first person Sonny contacted, and that second, he’d send more than one vague text.

Finally the meeting came to an end, and Rafael hit Sonny’s name while he gathered up his things.

“Hey counselor. You need something?”

“You needed help?” Rafael asked, getting straight to the point.

“What… oh, yeah. Hold on.”

Rafael rolled his eyes, partially at himself for entertaining thoughts of Sonny firing off texts to him while in the middle of some police emergency. He heard some shuffling on the other end of the phone and Sonny came back on.

“Sorry, had to get off the floor. So, the thing is, I have a date.”

Rafael waited for him to continue, then made an interested sort of noise when he didn’t.

“It’s a blind date.”

Rafael nodded to Carmen as he shouldered his door open. “I didn’t think blind dates were possible any more, what with Facebook.”

“I’m not on Facebook,” he grumbled. “Who enjoys blind dates anyway? Who enjoys the uncertainty and potential humiliation?” His voice held a touch of hysteria, and Rafael had to bite back a laugh.

“Why did you agree to it?”

“Gift horses and mouths, Raf.” He sighed. “Plus my sister arranged it and she’d never let it go if I said no.”

“Fair enough.” Rafael opened his laptop and started reading through his emails. “So where is the date?”

“Scalini.”

“You hate it there. You said it was an insult to your culture and to the entire concept of pasta”

“That’s… accurate, but I don’t want to ruin a restaurant I _like_ with memories of a bad date.”

Rafael snorted. “I like the optimism with which you’re approaching this. It’s very me.”

“Yeah, well, speaking of you, I need you to come with me.”

“You want me to go on your date with you?”

“No, just sit in the restaurant somewhere. If it’s going really badly, I’ll give you some sort of signal and you can, I don’t know, trip the fire alarm or something.”

“That’s a crime, detective.”

“I was kidding. But not about the coming along thing,” he added quickly.

Rafael sighed, and tried to rub away a headache before it formed. “Sonny, you’re a grown man and an NYPD detective.” 

“Raf…” Sonny wheedled.

“No,” he said in the same tone.

“Fine,” Sonny huffed. “You know that if he murders me it’s on your head.”

“Goodbye, Sonny.”

 

* * *

 

Rafael was a man strong in his own convictions. He appreciated a well crafted argument, but it had to be something special to win him over. And yet, after one ridiculous phone conversation he found himself sitting at a back table in a grubby Italian restaurant on a Wednesday night, watching Sonny tap nervously on a table 15 feet away. He still wasn't entirely sure why he'd come, but he figured since he was there he should do something useful before one of the patrons lost it at the undoubtedly infuriating tapping. He pulled his phone out of his pocket and typed out a quick message.

_Turn around._

Sonny jumped when his phone went off, and Rafael snorted as he scrambled to pull it out of his pocket. There was a pause as he read the text, then Sonny whipped round and whipped straight back again upon catching sight of Rafael. Rafael could see his shoulders shaking.

**What the hell are you wearing???**

True, the hat and sunglasses had attracted a few strange looks from the other diners, but it was cold outside and the sun tended to glare off the snow.

_I’m incognito._

**You look like the unabomber.**

Rafael chuckled. He checked the time on the top of his screen.

_Is he late?_

**Yep.**

Followed up quickly by:

**He’s not coming.**

Rafael frowned.

_Give him a few minutes, Sonny. There could be traffic._

**He has my number, he’d call if he was just late. He’s not coming.**  
**Do you think he saw me and walked back out again?**

_No._

He was surprised by how quickly he responded, and the forcefulness with which he felt it. It was ridiculous to imagine anyone would walk out after seeing Sonny. After listening to him talk for 20 minutes about the gory details of a recent murder case, maybe. Rafael felt a flash of anger towards the man for making Sonny doubt himself.

_Maybe he got the days mixed up._

**Maybe.**  
**One of the waitresses keeps giving me a sad look. Do you think if I look tragic enough I could get my dinner for free?**

Rafael grinned. He was glad Sonny didn’t seem too broken up by the date not working out. He knew he hadn’t been looking forward to it, but it still couldn’t have been easy to sit there and wait for someone who wasn’t coming.

_It’s worth a free dessert, at least._

**You’re killing my battery, take the glasses off and come over here.**

Rafael grabbed his glass and made his way over to Sonny’s table, dropping down into the chair opposite with a wry smile as he removed the sunglasses.

“I thought you didn’t do things like this?” Sonny asked, his eyes sparkling.

Rafael shrugged. “I finished work early and was in the mood for some bad lasagne.”

Sonny shook his head with a fond smile. “I recommend the terrible carbonara.”

As soon as they picked up their menus a waitress appeared next to them. She spared Rafael a wary glance that made Sonny choke back a laugh.

“Can I get you gentlemen something to drink?”

Sonny gave an exaggerated sigh and practically batted his eyes at the woman. “Oh, I think I could use a drink. My date just stood me up.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry!” She placed her hands over her heart, a picture of despair. “What a terrible thing to do. I’m going to get you a bottle of wine on the house.”

Sonny waved a hand dismissively. “No, I couldn’t possibly…”

“I insist,” she interrupted. “We don’t want anyone to have bad memories of our restaurant.”

Rafael thought that if they were so committed to that, they should probably fire the chef and hire a cleaner, but he thought it would be wise to keep that to himself. Sonny flashed a charming smile at the waitress and she ran off.

Rafael gave Sonny a disapproving look over his menu. “You’re very devious for a police officer.”

Sonny lifted his glass of water and took a sip. “Sometimes you need a bit of deviousness in your life.” 

Rafael smirked into his own glass. He wanted to feel bad that the date hadn’t worked out, but he knew he was better company for Sonny than someone Gina had set him up with on a whim. Still, he didn’t want to seem like too much of an asshole.

“Sorry about your date.”

“Oh, please,” Sonny scoffed. “You know I would have hated it. I should have just come out with you in the first place.”

A warm feeling bloomed in Rafael’s chest, but before he had the chance to undercut it with something snarky, the waitress arrived back with their free wine and another dramatic apology.

Sonny filled both their glasses before tipping his own at Rafael. “To friends,” he said sincerely.

Rafael lifted his own glass with a warm smile. “To friends.”

**Author's Note:**

> Note: Scalini is a restaurant in Belfast that is a lot better than I make it out to be. I recommend the garlic mushrooms.


End file.
